Other law educational resources are available through the Michigan Center for Civic Education (MCCE). The programs offered through the MCCE provide youth with the knowledge and skills needed to become engaged citizens from hosting mock trials to providing constitutional curriculum for the classroom.

MGTV provides full, unedited coverage of the Michigan Supreme Court. DVD copies of cases are available to teachers at no charge.

Bicentennial Celebration for the War of 1812

In honor of the bicentennial anniversary of the War of 1812 the Michigan Department of Resources has put together resources for teachers to use in the classroom. The Bicentennial website includes links to curriculum resources, games & activities, and information on historical sites in Michigan.

Michigan played an important role throughout the war. Here is a document provided by the state that outlines all the sites in Michigan where historical events took place during the conflict. All of these locations are marked by historical markers.

“Oh, Could They But Speak!” The history and importance of Michigan’s Civil War battle flags.

Michigan Government Television presents a package of curriculum materials that examine Michigan’s involvement in the Civil War. The program specifically looks at the role our historic battle flags and the flag bearers played in the conflict. Lesson plans are tied to standards and benchmarks in the Michigan Curriculum Framework in government, history, and technology. The program was created in 2001 and additional curriculum standards and benchmarks were updated in 2006.To see the lesson plans and the documentary please click here.

Civil War Sesquicentennial Materials

To commemorate the sesquicentennial celebration of the Civil War look at these resources available through the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn and the Michigan Historical Center. The materials at Henry Ford provide a special look at the museum’s exhibit Discovering the Civil War.

Bring the story of the Civil War into your classrooms through the Liberty and Justice for All program which chronicles the struggle for liberty from slavery through the Civil Rights movement. All curriculum and lesson plans are available online free of charge.

As part of the sesquicentennial celebration, the Henry Ford Museum has sponsored a lecture series which examines the significance of the Civil War today. The first parts of the series, “Why Does the Civil War Matter Today?,” are available online.

Additional materials are available through Seeking Michigan which includes videos of reenactments, databases to search Civil War soldiers, and find out about events celebrating the Sesquicentennial in Michigan.

Educators looking for discussion topics for their students around the Constitution are invited to view the MGTV interview with Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Young, Jr., Conversations with Chief Justice Robert Young. The interview focused on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1896 Plessy v Ferguson decision, which established the “separate but equal” doctrine, providing legal support for decades of racial segregation. The video is available for immediate viewing in our video gallery and examines how the case violates constitutional principles.

The case focused on the attempt by Homer Adolph Plessy, a 30-year-old shoemaker who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth black, to sit in a whites-only train car after buying a first-class ticket on a Louisiana railroad. The penalty for sitting in the wrong compartment was a $25 fine or 20 days in jail. Plessy challenged the Louisiana Separate Car Act under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, but a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law.

The program focuses on the history of the case and its implications on American history through the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

Learn more about the U.S. Constitution through C-SPAN. In this program, Chief Justice John Roberts spoke about the history, meaning, and provisions of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the operation of government within the parameters set forth in the U.S. Constitution

MGTV has only 10 copies of the two disc set left which are available free of charge to teachers. The program follows the People v. Gillis case of felony murder as it proceeds through the justice system up through the Michigan Supreme Court. The video was produced in 2008 by Wayne RESA and MGTV in conjunction with the Michigan Supreme Court.

Civic Education Materials

The Michigan Center for Civic Education provides teachers with resources for civic education including mock trial scripts for all grade levels. MGTV has partnered with them for many projects including a teacher conference for the 2010 Michigan Student/Parent Mock Election.

DEFINING MOMENTS

Frank Murphy, Fred Korematsu, and the Internment of Japanese Americans During World War IILessons from the past for a post-9/11 world: Internment of Japanese Americans
Michigan Government Television presents a package of curriculum materials dealing with the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. The program covers the U.S. Supreme Court case of Korematsuv. U.S. Government with the dissenting opinion in that case by Michigan’s 35th governor, Frank Murphy, who was a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The materials target standards and benchmarks in the Michigan Curriculum Framework in government, history, and technology. The program was launched in 2003 and updates to standards and benchmarks were added in 2007.To see the lesson plans and the documentary please click here.

The material contained on this website, on the Michigan Government Television (MGTV) network, and on videotapes of the programming of the MGTV network is copyrighted by Michigan Government Television, Inc., a Michigan nonprofit corporation. Any form of public performance, other use, or the unauthorized reproduction, distribution or exhibition of this copyrighted material, in any medium or form, is strictly prohibited and may subject the offender to civil liability and severe criminal penalties. (Title 17, United States Code, Sections 501 and 506).”